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Thursday, September 13, 2012

What I’ve Learned about Writing and Other Stuff

Now that I’m just a year
short of my 80’s, it’s a good time to reflect on what has been an important
part of my life for close to 78 years: stories.My first recollection of stories goes back to sitting in my mother’s lap
as she told me about the Little Red Hen, Lambikins, and others.Summertime in Hot Springs, Arkansas and the
sound of cicadas and the sweet smell of mimosas, the day dimming into night on the
front porch, and the rocker where my mother held me, all blend into indelible
memory and the beginning of my love for stories.

I loved books because of
the mysteries inside them.Before I was
able to read, I would thumb through my picture books, making up stories about
what I saw there, some of it remembered from what my brothers and parents had
read to me, some from my own inventions.The mystery of those letters of the alphabet that told of so many
wonders thrilled me and I have searched the mysteries ever since.By the time I was able to read and write, the
stories became my own as I developed plots and rhymes and people to inhabit
them.I learned about writing because I
wrote.

Eventually poems began to
join the stories I developed, and my deeper life became that of writer
regardless of what my outer life was experiencing.My first published piece was an essay in a
magazine for high school girls.Added to
that was a prize for an essay about peace in a national high school
publication.My career was on the brink
of being launched.A ninth grade
assignment was to report on a lifetime career that we were interested in, the
values of such endeavors, the requirements for entering that career, and
reasons for wanting to take that road.I
chose to report on being a free-lance writer.No one else in my class had any such interest.My playwright uncle was willing to give me
pointers for the project, and somewhere in a trunk is that completed
assignment.

In college I wrote for
two magazines and the student newspaper, serving as editor of the paper my
senior year.I was certain my future was
clear.In a file cabinet stored in our
garage are folders containing everything I’ve written since I was 12.The files bulge as I added more and
more.I began submitting articles to
magazines.I wrote my first novel.These were conceived as I was also conceiving
four children, so it was a productive era for me, at least in offspring.The writing, however, seemed to offer up
nothing but rejection slips.

I then turned to poetry
almost exclusively and had some success in contests and publication, but
nothing spectacular.A poetry group
provided critiques for me so that I learned more and gained some skills in that
field.But no grand break-throughs as a
recognized poet.I did gain more
knowledge as I began to be part of various poetry groups and programs.These experiences were to serve me well many
years later when I returned to that genre.

My first professional venture
outside the home was in teaching English, finally attaining a master’s degree
in that field, which was to be a great help for future endeavors and helped me
hone my own writing skills.In my 40’s,
I answered a call to the ministry, and I was ordained in the Presbyterian
Church. The bulk of my writing then consisted of sermons, newsletters, and
letters to the editor of nearby newspapers.I learned during those years that to be a dedicated writer was not
possible while working full time in another field, and so the literary efforts were
put aside for the most part, although I continued my letters to editors.These were to get me into trouble at times
with church folks, but I continued to express my concerns for peace and justice
in public venues.

It all began to come
together after my retirement.Computers
were available—a great aid to my writing, helping me keep track of my
efforts.By this time I was also able to
draw upon what I had learned through my experience in ministry and enrich
stories and poems with new insights.

That experience led to
publishing books, both as self-published with lulu.com, and through an
independent publisher, All Things That Matter Press.In the process of publishing book-length
works my education broadened rapidly, as I accumulated many new insights into
what is required in publishing for general readerships.

In a nutshell then,
here’s what I have learned about writing and the little I might add about being
published.It doesn’t vary a great deal
from what other writers have also learned, but it took me a bit longer to
figure out all the corners and twists to this adventure with words.

1)Authors,
like actors and legislators, don’t find success overnight.Stardom is achieved through hard and constant
work at our craft.A first draft isn’t
worth much.It requires revision after
revision.This blog has been revised
many times, re-writing sentences and getting rid of sentences and
paragraphs.Unlike sculptors in marble,
our first cuts can be redeemed and polished until we have something worth sharing
with the public, or at least with a few others.

2)There is a gold nugget in what we have
conceived, but we must mine the words and hone our language until it is
visible.We do have a gem somewhere in
that pile of lines and paragraphs, but we must persevere to uncover it.Don’t give up before you have completed the
task of developing your piece.It may
not be a masterpiece for the ages, but it is your creation and deserves its
proper editing to become what you envisioned.

Our human nature seeks a
story.We learn through stories and we
teach through stories, if we are wise.We also know when we have read or heard a good story that does not cheat
us by leaving out important details, or swamp us with unnecessary details.A poem can tell a story just as prose writing
can, but in a different way.We seek to
know who we are and why we do as we do.Good stories will lend light to that search.

As for publication, the
countless ways in which that can take place is more than I will enumerate here,
other than to note the categories.Of course
traditional publishing by a corporate publisher continues to be possible.New opportunities, however, exist.One can self-publish through a choice of
these methods.I have done so through
lulu.com.There is also online
publishing known as “e-books” as well as various magazine publications.My choice is to be published through an
independent publisher, such as the one I have found:All Things That Matter Press.It is located in Maine, and takes on both
established and new authors.My book on
the experiences of children during World War II is with ATTMP, and another one,
about rescued animals, will be coming out with them soon.The authors are encouraged to promote one
another’s books, and we have an active community doing just that.I have learned much about the opportunities
for publishing my own work through the experiences of others in our ATTMP
group, as well as simply browsing the internet to see what might be of help.

The best part of writing,
I have learned, is the satisfaction of seeing your hard work, created by
persistence, at last in print.Not all
that is published is of Pulitzer quality, but it is our own work and we have
proved to ourselves that we need no longer simply to tell friends that we are “writing
a book,” that never seems to be finished.My advice to anyone who has
something to share with others from your research and creativity is Go For It!

2 comments:

Jean...this is wonderful advice. What a fruitful life you have lived and shared. One of the best parts of old age is being able to look back and see your accomplishments. You have many to be very proud of.